Yes on Proposition 11 for more sensible 911 services

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An ambulance arrives after a babysitter injures herself and four children when the SUV she was driving overturned on the eastbound 91 freeway at Magnolia Avenue in Fullerton, CA on Friday morning, April 14, 2017. (Photo by KEN STEINHARDT, Orange County Register/SCNG)

In California, about 25 percent of 911 emergency calls for an ambulance are handled by local fire departments. The other 75 percent are handled by private companies that contract with counties to provide emergency medical services.

A 2016 state Supreme Court decision called into question whether these companies may continue to require emergency medical technicians and paramedics to be on-call during meal and rest breaks. Proposition 11 on the November ballot would clarify that the current, long-standing policy remains legal.

In Augustus v. ABM Security Services, the court ruled that private security guards could not be reachable during rest breaks, even if there was an emergency. Although unrelated to medical services, that decision created concern that a future court ruling might apply the Augustus precedent to private ambulance companies.

During the 50 years the 911 system has been in place, emergency medical workers, like firefighters and police officers, have been on-call during their entire work shift, reachable even during meal periods and rest breaks. The public certainly doesn’t expect, when calling 911 in an emergency of any kind, to hear an operator say, “Sorry, they’re at lunch.”

That would never happen, but if the Augustus ruling was applied to EMTs and paramedics, companies that provide those services would have to increase staffing levels or risk a potentially deadly increase in response time. That would increase costs, a burden ultimately borne by taxpayers and insurance customers. According to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, the additional cost to providers could exceed $100 million per year.

Adequate rest is undeniably important for all emergency workers, and Prop. 11 requires ambulance operators to maintain staffing “at levels sufficient” to allow employees to take rest breaks during their typical 12-hour shifts. A court-imposed requirement for emergency medical workers to turn off electronic communication devices during those breaks could needlessly put lives at risk. It is simply good sense to state that labor law entitling hourly employees to take meal and rest breaks without being on-call does not apply to private-sector emergency ambulance employees. Prop. 11 it deserves a Yes vote.

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